Masking tape is an essential product of the painting and decorating industry and much of it is placed by the professional painter using a practiced, well honed level of skill and dexterity. The DIY (Do-it-yourself) person often does not have the opportunity to practice this task and consequently do not acquire the level of skill required to complete a quality job. Typically and tediously the masking tape is placed manually along the top edge of baseboard to shield the baseboard from being splashed with wet paint as the wall is being painted, Typically it is also placed around window and door trim and along carpet and baseboard intersections or other floor covering. It is also used to protect the intersections of wall and ceiling surfaces. Again, it is often the product used to mask off glass around a painted or stained window frame, but is not limited to any of the above applications.
The masking tape tool will place the masking tape accurately to the required surface at the intersection.
Prior state of technology U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,740 Dec. 15 1970 Inventor Hinds Schubert W.
The design has left very little room between the scissor type cutter and the tape to safely grip the tape to reload around the front roller.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,537,942 Nov. 3 1970 George Kefalos.
No on-board cutter or measuring device is a significant shortcoming to this tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,478,068 Nov. 12 2002 J. Paul Brown.
Highly engineered with a multiplicity of parts contributing to expensive manufacturing costs and resulting in impractical retail cost. Relies on a roller to apply tape and a guide pin for guiding the adhesive tape.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,926 also CA2389466A1 Dec. 6 2002 Inventor Edward Matechuk.
Limited by no measuring stop device. Cutter is ineffective as it wants to push tape aside rather than piercing the tape.
There are many masking tape tools with individual shortcomings such as high engineering costs, a lack of on-board cutters and no means of measuring tape up to an abutting surface and all are lacking the means to use a variety of generic standard width tape.
It can be appreciated that a need exists for a low cost adaptable tool with an on-board cutter and measuring stop to cleanly cut tape without unnecessary stretching or tearing of the tape and a means of accurately measuring the tape prior to cutting that is needed to mask a surface up to an abutting plane.
Individual painters preferences, often requires the use of tape of a differing width. This tool quickly adapts from the standard 1″ tape width (using snap-on sleeves of appropriate width) to a functional tool using standard 1.25″ tape width and again to a standard tape width of 1.5″ and again to a standard tape width of 2″ for a total of four standard widths of tape, all of which are readily available stock items in the hardware and painting stores.
Masking tape is sensitive to uneven stretching as it is being placed. Often the unskilled painter, when applying the tape stretches the tape randomly, thus rendering it useless as it will then be practically impossible to apply it in a straight line at the intended intersection.
This Tape tool has an on-board cutter and measuring stop to readily permit the proper tape length to be cut accurately, precisely and cleanly without stretching or pulling of the tape or otherwise unequally tensioning the tape as to cause it either to be pulled off the applied surface or to cause it to be pulled out of alignment both of which would defeat the intended purpose of the tool and the operation of masking accurately in the first place.
The tape is cut by an on-board cutter. A simple action of pressing the cutter mechanism to engage the cutter with the tape will sever the tape without stretching it. Further, a retractable guard serves two purposes: it covers the blade for safety purposes and it applies subtle pressure to the tape, trapping and tensioning the tape between the guard and on each side of the slot on the front shoe to assist in the cutting operation. Upon completion of the cut, it retracts to its passive state to effectively cover the exposed cutter edge when the cutter is not in use.
The manually operated tool is loaded by hand, pulling a length of tape from the mounted roll around the front shoe and beyond the rear shoe. The exposed adhesive surface of the tape on the underside of the tool is positioned onto the surface to adhere at the intersection. The tool is pushed forward and the tape automatically is drawn or peels from the roll as it is placed and applied to the surface.
The cutting action is engaged without stress to the tape. Upon completion of the cut, the tool is removed and the remaining curl of tape is gently hand pressed into the corner up to the abutting surface. The process is complete without further repositioning or alignment of the tape, fussing with the tape, massaging of the tape or applying of the tape to the surface.
The present invention achieves its intended purposes and advantages through a new “all in one” multifunction tool, utilizing a variety of standard roll of masking tape (manufactured by a variety of manufacturers) readily found in most hardware or painting decorating stores. Its versatility to be quickly adapted to use various standard widths of masking tape is unique and its simplicity of design with few moving parts, makes it a robust tool relatively inexpensive to manufacture and employing only readily available materials. The onboard cutter mechanism easily removes from the tool as does the measuring stop should that be necessary in some restricted places and should it be the preference of the operator.